Famous Fat Dave: The Hungry Cabbie » Hunt’s Point

Boot Of The Bronx

Administrator — Wed, 02 May 2007 05:47:04 +0000

ABC News Now just aired a piece on my famous “Boot Of The Bronx” eating tour, one of the countless, customized, culinary tours I have to offer over at FamousFatDaveDotCom. We got Oprah’s camera man (!) and took a wild romp through The Bronx chowing down on Italian food the whole way through.

Unfortunately, they cut a scene showing those delicious Little Neck Clams Possilipo at Artie’s in City Island. But they’ve got great shots of the broccoli rabe at Fratelli’s in Hunt’s Point, the fried calzone at Louie and Ernie’s in Pelham Bay, the Italian Ice next door at Teresa’s, and the cannoli at Madonia Brothers on Arthur Ave. Classic food porn. Enjoy.

Click here for the story.

Click here for the video of “The Boot Of The Bronx Tour” With Famous Fat Dave

New York Public Radio

Administrator — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 19:38:14 +0000

The Famous Fat Dave experience has managed to attract a good deal of media attention. But until this morning, none of the stories delved into my psyche or explored my passion. Mark Phillips (the musical genius behind the pop sensation Sono Oto) worked for months on a New York Public Radio story that aired on WNYC 93.9’s “Weekend Edition.” Mark tagged along on a couple eating tours, rode shot gun in my yellow cab picking up fares late at night, and ate a LOT of food with me. In just four minutes and forty seconds, he manages to capture the essence of what I do, why I do it, who I am, and why I love this town.

You can listen to the New York Public Radio piece and download the mp3 here

Or you can listen on Www.FamousFatDave.Com by clicking here

The Hungry Cabbie Eats The Outer Boroughs: Fratelli’s Pizza Cafe

Administrator — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 04:08:20 +0000

One decade ago, a New York City yellow cab driver named Brent Owens filmed, what some consider, a landmark documentary for HBO. Hookers At The Point is about rampant prostitution, drugs, and despair in a rough, isolated Bronx neighborhood called Hunt’s Point.

Two days ago, a New York City yellow cab driver named Dave Freedenberg wrote, what he considers, a landmark column for Gothamist. The Hungry Cabbie Eats The Outer Boroughs: Fratelli’s Pizza Cafe is about delicious broccoli rabe, sausage and rabe Sicilian slices, and rabe heroes in that very same rough, isolated Bronx neighborhood.

A New Virtual Famous Fat Dave Tour

Administrator — Tue, 09 May 2006 18:36:41 +0000

Be my guest on a virtual Famous Fat Dave’s Uptown and The Bronx Boogie Down. Come along on a double date from heaven with Rex and Steve and Sarah and Sha for deviled eggs, fried whiting, Littleneck clams posillipo, fresh mozzarella, maduros, broccoli rabe, hand-piped cannoli and MUCH more . You’ll get virtually hungry, then virtually full, then briefly virtually ashamed of yourself, and then virtually proud you virtually ate the whole thing. And visit the Famous Fat Dave’s Five Borough Eating Tour website to learn more about tour options or take other virtual tours.

The Boogie Down

Administrator — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 06:18:56 +0000

The Bronx can be a scary place. I have to admit that, even after more than four years of driving a cab, I don’t really know my way around it. Hunt’s Point, the desolate peninsula bulging out of the borough east of the Bruckner Expressway, might be the scariest part of the Bronx. Warehouses and auto glass stores seem to be all that there is along the neigborhood’s two wide avenues. Countless eighteen-wheelers rumble up and down the streets day and night, outnumbered only in the wee hours by the chunky, sassy hookers that made Hunt’s Point Avenue famous as “Ho Avenue.”

Last night, sometime during the smallest of those wee hours, I picked up a fare in Harlem who was on his way to his job as a truck driver for the Hunt’s Point Terminal Market. He was late, in such a hurry that he was willing to take a cab to work, something he told me he very rarely does. But he still had time for breakfast. At the end of Hunt’s Point Avenue, just before the left turn for the Terminal Market, my fare asked me to wait and jumped out of the cab for a meatball hero and a side of broccoli rabe.

It’s that kind of blue collar breakfast that keeps the proletariat down, but for me, it was dinner time. With a knowing look in his eye as he devoured his hero, he told me to go back and get anything with broccoli rabe. I trusted him not just because he worked in the area, but he had the kind of thick Italian accent you get when you are born in Napoli, not New York. With time to kill, I pulled up amongst the ample parking and walked into Fratelli Pizza Cafe. A couple cold pizzas sat on the counter, so I asked Joe, the counterman, what to order with broccoli rabe.

(Joe, making a fresh pie just before dawn)

He told me to get the broccoli rabe hero. I figured the bitter leafy vegetable would be too much for my palate without anything to marry it to.  So I got a broccoli rabe and sausage hero and mozzarella sticks.

            (I put that fork to work)

The hero was ridiculously large and so scrumptous. And I was wrong.  The rabe could have carried the hero on its own without a problem. I ate half of the rabe with a fork because it was so fresh and garlicy and not too bitter. I’d never heard of a broccoli rabe hero (nor had I heard of a 24 hour a day full Italian eatery). The sausage and mozzarella sticks were delicious as well. So late at night, in the roughest part of the Boogie Down Bronx, I was blindsided by so fresh and unique a meal. Joe told me they stay open around the clock because of all the truck drivers like my fare who roam the neighborhood. They serve the rabe because its so good.

Fratelli Pizza Cafe (open from midnight on Sunday until Friday afternoon, I wouldn’t want you risking your neck to go when it’s not even open) 402 Hunt’s Point Ave, The Bronx

Check out http://www.famousfatdave.com for a chuckle or to book an eating tour